The 13th annual Banking on Climate Chaos report underscores the disparity between public climate commitments being made by the world’s largest banks, and the reality of their largely business-as-usual financing to the fossil fuel industry.

The report documents that in the six years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the world’s 60 largest private sector banks financed fossil fuels with 4.6tr. 2021 fossil fuel financing at $742bn were above 2016 levels, when the Paris Agreement came into force.

Of particular significance is the revelation that the 60 banks profiled in the report funnelled $185.5bn just last year into the 100 companies doing the most to expand the fossil fuel sector.

Banking on Climate Chaos was authored by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, and Urgewald, and is endorsed by 500 organisations from 49 countries around the world.

The report shows that overall fossil fuel financing remains dominated by four US banks, with JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America together accounting for one quarter of all fossil fuel financing identified over the last six years.

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